Vermont news

• Tar spot fungus likely won’t mute fall colors

  03-09-2026 23:43 via vtdigger.org
  
  A maple leaf with tar spot fungus. Photo by Noel Clark/VTDiggerThis story by Scooter MacMillan was first published in The Charlotte News on Sept. 3, 2026.You may have noticed browning trees with crinkled, dried-up leaves on Thompson’s Point Road in Charlotte.You may also have noticed these trees were sugar maples, and you might have worried that the premature browning of what is traditionally one of our brightest performers in the annual polychromapalooza could indicate we’re in for
  
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• For some patients seeking drugs like Ozempic, the best path is to just get sicker

  03-09-2026 23:27 via vtdigger.org
  
  Boxes for the medications Wegovy and Zepbound. File photo by JoNel Aleccia/APFor many, drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic seem a miracle. But for those without the extra $300 to $1,200 it can cost to buy the drugs out-of-pocket, getting insurance coverage for the diabetes drugs, which are known to alleviate a slew of other weight-related health conditions, can prove a nightmare.The story is all too familiar to Dr. Michelle Dorwart, the president of the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians and a fami
  
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• Save New England’s wildest forests before it’s too late

  03-09-2026 22:59 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Zack Porter, the executive director of Standing Trees, which works to protect and restore forests on New England’s public lands.This summer, did you stand on top of the Presidential Range, Mount Moosilauke or Franconia Ridge? Did you follow the Long Trail through the Green Mountain National Forest or the Appalachian Trail through the White Mountain National Forest?Did you take a scenic drive along Vermont’s Route 100, through one of New Hampshire’s or Mai
  
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• Vermont’s forgotten Abenaki war captain

  03-09-2026 21:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,   Kyle Neece’s recent story in VTDigger about “three Vermonters whose histories are lesser known” was very interesting. However, the writer could have chosen a Native American who was even less well known than “Indian Joe” and far more important. When the American Revolution began, an Abenaki leader in Vermont and New Hampshire raised a company of Abenaki soldiers who fought alongside the Yankee militia commanded by Gen. Jacob Bayle
  
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• From shut out to starting over

  03-09-2026 19:47 via vtdigger.org
  
  Violetta Ayrapetova works on the locked unit at a residential facility in Chittenden County. She is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse. She plans to pursue wound care certification because many patients in psychiatric and substance use settings have untreated physical wounds. She does not want to be the provider who ignores them.Her path began well before nursing school.Her family came to Vermont as refugees in the early 1990s. They were Armenian minorities forced out of Azerbaij
  
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• The Vermont Republican Party wants him elected Chittenden County’s top prosecutor. He doesn’t want the job.

  03-09-2026 19:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George, left, is seeking reelection. Jace Laquerre, right, will appear on the November ballot as a Republican. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDigger and courtesyThe Vermont Republican Party is putting up a candidate, for the first time, to challenge Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George in November’s election. But the party’s choice does not actually want the job.Instead, Jace Laquerre, a software engineer from Milton, is ent
  
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• ‘Everyone’s friend’: Family describes slain Derby woman as her killer gets 30 years in prison

  03-09-2026 00:42 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jakiy Keith appears during his sentencing hearing in Orleans Superior criminal court in Newport on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. Keith pleaded guilty in the 2024 shooting death of Kayla Wright. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA former Connecticut man has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on a murder charge for fatally shooting a Derby woman inside a Northeast Kingdom home where he helped run an illegal drug operation.Judge Rory Thibault handed down the sentence to 26-year-old Jakiy Tr
  
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• Holland Food Shelf announces closure after months of financial uncertainty

  03-09-2026 00:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Tomatoes are displayed at the Holland Food Shelf as a visitor looks at vegetables. Photo courtesy of Don Stevens/Abenaki Helping AbenakiTheo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.The Holland Food Shelf announced Wednesday that the organization would close, following months of financial uncertainty.According to Don Stevens, executive director of Abenaki Helping Abenaki, the food shelf’s nonprofit operator, the service has become financially unfeasible
  
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